What Is Early Word? The Philadelphia Inquirer's experimental online "morning show&quot, which began in Sept. 2005, went on hiatus in the summer of 2006, after a gradual shift to putting more of its content directly on Philly.com.

And the Mouse Isn't Talking

Pearl Parkey, 89, was having some Campbell's Kitchen Classics Bean With Bacon Soup in her Kentucky home, when she felt something in her mouth that wasn't bean and wasn't bacon. Daughter Phyllis Ingram thought it was a ball of fur, says the Associated Press. That's when the granddaughter piped up, "Mama, that's a mouse." There's more to this story, of course. But who knows what to think? Isn't it weird that less than two weeks after a needle allegedly shows up in a can of Progresso Vegetable Classics Minestrone in Wind Gap, Pa., a mouse supposedly shows up in a can from Progresso's chief rival? Now, I'm not suggesting in any way that there's some kind of shady industrial shenanigans sabotage deal going on here, or in any way insinuating that Pearl Parkey might be full of malarkey. Nope. Nor am I gonna drag in that case of the severed human finger fraudulently claimed to have been in Wendy's chili. Even if chili is kind of like soup, only thicker. Nope. I'm just wondering.

"We vehemently believe it's highly unlikely that this could have occurred," said Campbell rep John Faulkner. The company produces about 3 billion cans of soup a year, and the handful of allegations he's seen in six years with the firm were all proven false. In one case, what consumer thought was a rodent was really a clump of mold that had grown in a damaged can, he said. This object is apparently tiny, since the family estimates the "mouse" to be a week old. Campbell Soup sent a courier to pick up the specimen for a thorough examination, to determine (a) if it is a mouse, and (b) if it is, whether it's been cooked or not. Results should be known next week.